BLOGS / Buzz
'No Better Way Of Shutting Down Indian Media'
While telecasting a news report on the provident fund scandal in
Ghaziabad, the Times Now news channel correctly pronounced the name of
Justice P.K. Samanta (from the Calcutta High Court, since retired),
but the photograph flashed on the screen —for all of 15 seconds or
so—was of retired Supreme Court judge, Justice P.B. Sawant. On the
mistake being pointed out to the channel, an apology was carried on
the scroll normally reserved for breaking news.
But Justice Sawant took the matter to a Pune court for loss of
reputation, which awarded Rs100 crore as damages. Times Now appealed
against the order and Bombay High Court asked it to deposit Rs. 20
crore in cash and furnish a bank guarantee of Rs.80 crore before its
appeal could be heard. On appeal, the Supreme Court refused to
interfere with the Bombay High Court order.
What was clearly a genuine error by a Times Now staffer now seems to
be assuming the dimensions of a national crisis with far-reaching
effects for all forms of media across the nation. Editors' Guild to
the Press Council's new chief have already expressed anxiety at the
possible ramifications of the case. Times Now's Editor in Chief, Arnab
Goswami has separately issued a statement of apology:
"We are extremely apologetic to Justice Sawant for the mistake and
any personal damage done to his reputation because of the inadvertent
error of running his picture instead of another judge".
"The picture ran for only about 15 seconds and was a genuine
oversight in the course of a broadcast. We deeply regret the mistake
and assure Justice Sawant that it was not part of any intentional
malice in reporting,"
Writing in the Hindustan Times, Times Group's main competitor in
Delhi, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, BJP's Arun Jaitely,
weighs in:
As someone having familiarity with the quantum of damages Indian
courts award, this order appears to be somewhat unusual. Observers are
still unable to come to terms with the quantum of damages awarded even
in cases of death or disability caused by Union Carbide in the Bhopal
gas tragedy. The quantum awarded in various death cases, be it an
accident or otherwise, in India, is normally modest. The quantum
awarded recently in the Uphaar fire tragedy is a case in point. If a
former judge is entitled to R100 crore for his photograph being
flashed erroneously on account of being mistaken with another
phonetically similar name, will this precedent be applied by Indian
courts to other ordinary mortals who complain of loss of reputation on
account of far more serious allegations? I am not aware of a single
case where even 1% of this amount has been awarded to an ordinary
citizen or a public person for loss of reputation. There is no better
way of shutting down Indian media than by awarding punitive damages
against journalists, newspapers or TV channels that are completely
disproportionate to the value of money in Indian society.
Each media organisation is expected to exercise due care and
caution. Errors, however, will take place on account of the very
nature of the news circulation business. If channels or newspapers are
to suffer such an order, on the assumption that R100 crore are to be
the normal damages awarded to a citizen, we may in the next 10 years
become a nation without media organisations.
Citizens deserve a free and fair media. We can't have a free and
fair media by having the Press Council act as Big Brother, or with the
government threatening to de-license news channels, or with the
judiciary imposing unreasonable punitive damages on them. We need an
independent and a vigilant media as much as we need an independent
judiciary
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